Top 50 Western Australian Pacers of All Time

JayJay · February 2015

Oh, Mike Beech went alright, plenty worse than him, you may be surprised if I can dig up his record. John Graham was the private trainer for Bob Humphreys when he shifted the Trunkey Breeding show lock stock and barrel to Northcliffe from NSW and he did very nicely but a number of nasty race smashes intervened. Still involved down Bunbury way. And you are correct about Graham Taylor, plenty of winners from him, a very mild mannered fellow who as you say, sailed under the radar. Came across the very handy Cambrai Boy the other night and although Bob Pollock was listed as his driver, I have a thought that he was another one of Barry Perkins. Bob did win some races on Preux Chevalier when Perkins was suspended so it seems to add up.

VillageKid · February 2015

JayJay said:
Boof Anderson.....it would be easy to classify Dudley Anderson, Laurie Robinson (and to a lesser extent Alby Harman and Neville Brindley) as farriers that trained and drove a bit. Far from it, they were far more significant than that. I was really pleased to see that Boof was still hail and hearty at 85 years young after decades of back breaking work bending over the bellows in the blacksmith shop, solving other peoples problems. Great unsung heroes of the game, no doubt about that. It is well documented the role that Boof played in spotting Village Kid in NZ whilst negotiating to get Al Pacino, who was more than handy in winning 17 races. How his like would have changed had he taken up the option on Willie before alerting Bill Horn to his potential, after, of course, rectifying his shoeing to overcome knee knocking. I recall the grey with black star colours of Boof but searching past winners has been tricky. Southern Knight was arguably the best horse that he trained ...although the great Royal Force may have been the best he drove in winning the Miracle Mile and Pacing Cup heats. Southern Knight raced as a 2YO winning a heat of the Group 1 Pearl in February 1992 followed by a 4th to Jim Beam in the final. He won first up at Fremantle as a 3YO the following October with Alby Harman running 2nd with Equal Justice, a quinella for the Farriers. He then lost form with only a Pinjarra win from his next 13 starts before beginning a run of 5 city wins from his next 7 starts leading up to December 1993. He had arrived. 2nd to Flashing Star in the $100k Golden Nugget in January 1994 was followed by a 1.58 win in the Frosty Nelson Stakes. Then followed a 1994 Pinjarra Cup Win, a 2nd in the Bunbury Cup and a 2nd to Norms Daughter in the 4YO Championship. In the 1995 Pacing Cup Series, he won 2 Preludes and was 2nd to Justaboyden in the final. He campaigned in Victoria, 2nd to Brabham in the ANL FFA at the Valley and in Impressionists 1995 Inters in Christchurch, he ran 3rd to Chokin in a heat and was 3rd in the Consolation. He raced on and in 1997, he won another prelude of the Pacing Cup before finishing 3rd to Our Sir Vancelot in the final. 14 wins, 14 2nds and 10 3rds and $220k ...a marvelous horse. Boof had other feature race wins....Shirley Reid in the 1966 Pinjarra Cup, Smooth Dave for Ross Olivieri in both the Western Gateway Pace and the WA Derby, beating Classic Gary, in 1982. He also won the Western Gateway Pace on Judge Thomas in 1987 for the Mitchells, a Bunbury Cup on Abimidas in 1996.....the same night that fellow farrier Laurie Robinson won on Smashing Rate, another strike for the Smithies and he drove Smokey Future to a Pacing Cup consolation for Ray Grantham in 1994, a horse he drove many times. Bakers Dozen was also a more than handy horse winning 10 races around 1990/91. For all that, I am sure there are many others that I have missed......he had a very good mare that for the life of me, I can't remember her name, but maybe someone else will remember. Boof received an Australian Harness Racing Award back in about 2006 for services to the Industry....who could argue against it? As I say, apologies if I have short changed him but it's the best I can come up with.

Al Pacino was a more than handy pacer as you outlined JJ, I seem to remember another one named after a famous actor in Chevy Chase was also around the same time.

JayJay · February 2015

Chevy Chase was won of Jack Rezlaffs - speedy little pony - he took us on one night at Fremantle attacking Lady Be Cool from the breeze. We prevailed but only just ...last quarter in about 31, they were walking. He was a tough little horse.

JayJay · February 2015

Yeah, hehe, Mouse is a ripper....I've got black vinyl recordings of some of his race calls which I am giving to RWWA for incorporation into their library of historical stuff. Don't know if you go back far enough but Malcolm's Prince was a very good horse for old Jack, heat and final of the October Gift in the late 60's...and K.J.F. Casselas calls him home....he might have had a shilling or two on old Malcolm from the tone of his call. I've got one from a call at Northam...crackily line and and a cold winters night which he mentions frequently in the call. He has had shares in a lot of horses over the years...will take some tracking down but will give it a go. He seems to have been around for ever and ever...he hates horses with those silly names....."Theeyestellnolies" sort of thing and he pronounce them as "These Tell Nollies".And I am with him on that.

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Only knew Sam Torre to chat to on race nights, trials etc but he was always approachable and seemed a very nice person. I don't know much about him early on, he would be close to 70 nowadays and I think he came into the game later in life. Big family connection with Santo and Carl owning all those good horses with Lyle Lindau ...Wee cent, Dollars Double, Marylyns Dollar, Santos Adios, Santo Carlo etc. The first I recall was his Red Colours with a Gold Maltese Cross and not being terribly successful as he learnt the trade. The leader "Torrevean" was attached to many of his horses names and lately, the "Royalty" moniker coming from nephew Ross's Royalstar Breeding operation. However, Sam is a dab hand with young horses and has a great record, in spite of them frequently going East to Jayne Alexander and Chris Alford, as with the brilliant Amongst Royalty, His first substantial win was with Torrevean Derby in the 1981 Golden Slipper who then went on to win the 3YO Sires Stakes in 1982. Arch Rival was an outstanding youngster winning the Champagne Classic in 1985 and the Summer Gift amongst his 19 wins and north of $135k in stakes. Amongst Royalty won over $580 k spread across both Sam's and Jayne Alexanders care and was probably his best horse, winning any number of major Sires Stakes races and fast class wins as well. The Perfect Spring won the Pearl Classic in 2005, Spicey Hot won the Dainty's Daughter Classic in 2004 as well as significant Sires Stakes races in Victoria, Supreme Royalty the $100k 2YO Sires in 2008 and runner up in the 2009 Dainty's Daughter Classic. In between these classic wins, there were literally dozens of other "Torrevean" horses that supplied many wins such as Torrevean Amunindi (1.56.3) $73k, Torrevean Boy (1.59.0), Torrevean Cara (2.01.7), Torrevean Jack (1.59.7) etc etc and I mean literally dozens!!! I think his stables up in Herne Hill are even known as Torrevean Lodge. And just like the standard bred breed, Sam keeps keeping on. well worthy of mention.

Linc, I knew Barry Perkins when he was at school....primary school....he never said much then and he didn't get any more talkative. Even his Uncle Ernie, clerk of course at the races for decades, couldn't get much out of him. Ernie and his wife Fay were killed in a car accident a few years back.....they had a brilliant property on the coast at Cosy Corner in Torbay, which was were we spelled our horses ....green grass all summer...and where we trained Bylaw One from on our jaunts to Albany. Cant add much to Barry's story with Preaux Chevalier above and beyond what John Hunt put in his book. The only people he spoke to were owners, they paid the bills, he reported to them.....fair enough I suppose but he was pretty reclusive. We bought a yearling filly for Ernie Perkins from the East ...Lady Delmer....which Barry leased off his uncle. Won quite few races with her and when the lease ran out, she came to our stable....embarrassingly, we couldn't get her to run out of sight...literally.....distanced and back to trials was the result. No matter what we did, she could barely run a mile in 2.10, that after having won city races rating 2.2.3 for Perkins. Completely mystified, we gave up, she returned to Barry, won a few more races and then died. Can't add any more other than the performance of The Frog at Moonee Valley when he won the Hunter Cup by about 50 yards was the most extraordinary win I have ever seen...unbelievable....he just kept running faster and faster and faster.

And yes, I was a great fan of Richmond Raceway, it had great atmosphere and great theatre....the Casino in Perth opening up slaughtered TAB turnover at the time and Richmond closed down ....the economic rationalists, who are only responsible for destroying things, had a win and its never been the same since.

Frog was a freak !!

JayJay · February 2015

Mike Beech, who does little driving these days, has been around for 40 plus years following on from Dad Norm Beech, and although not constantly up in lights, he has a very good strike rate. I haven't had time to do a lot of research but a snapshot reveals a 1967 Derby Win on Amalphi to get things rolling and a Country Derby win with New Gallant. All Braid was a headline juvenile performer winning the SIres Stakes in 1978, 3rd to Whispering Campaign in the 2YO Sires Produce, 2nd to Race Ruler in the 3YO Sires Produce and racing on successfully to run 2nd to Snakes and Ladders in the 1983 Christmas Gift. Jimmy Nail contested the Freo Cup in 2004, won the Parliamentarians Cup in 2003, 2nd to Get Serious in a Botra Cup and 2nd to Holm For Xmas in both the Mount Eden Sprint (in 1.55.1) and the Brennan Cup. Agnate was another fast class horse who qualified for the APC in 2002 and was 3rd to Gammalite in the Howard Porter Memorial. Beech won the Oaks in 1983 with Princess Leilane, the Golden Slipper in 1998 with Franco Parker and the 2003 Caduceus Club Classic in 1999 with Franco Look Alike and in 2003 with Latte. Luckon Lad won a Derby prelude in 2009 and raced in the Golden Nugget final and Birthday was a classy winner for him in 2008. A lot of ex NZ horses have dominated his small team over the years and other good winners include the brilliant Shirlz Sensation, a winner at his last 3 City starts going back to April 2014 but off the scene since then. Recently, Big River Hammer (2006) Cashmere Flyer (2008) and Zonya (2014) have kept the ball rolling. No big headlines, no outrageous claims, just a very steady flow of winners over a long period of time for M.N Beech.

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Locked wheels at he start, normally your out of the race never mind it was the Inters Final,,still makes teh hairs stand up op my arm

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Richmond Raceway

The Fremantle Flying Mile 16.10.84. Richmond Raceway. What a race to remember. A champion horse blitzed the field. It was a wet night. The track was slow. The others just made up the numbers.

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Never saw Mt Eden but aside from Poppy "the Frog" was the best I have seen

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Big Len Pervan didn't mind a bet at the red hots, was tangled up with the Harper stable for quite awhile. Back in the Watsie days

AndrewCarter · February 2015

Bronzino was one of the horses Pervan had at Greg's, he was handy on his night, think they may have owned Time Symbol a very good horse in the early 90's that they had with Mike Reed.

Piston_Broke · February 2015

Jimmy Schrader hated a bet at the two up

VillageKid · February 2015

JayJay said:
Mike Beech, who does little driving these days, has been around for 40 plus years following on from Dad Norm Beech, and although not constantly up in lights, he has a very good strike rate. I haven't had time to do a lot of research but a snapshot reveals a 1967 Derby Win on Amalphi to get things rolling and a Country Derby win with New Gallant. All Braid was a headline juvenile performer winning the SIres Stakes in 1978, 3rd to Whispering Campaign in the 2YO Sires Produce, 2nd to Race Ruler in the 3YO Sires Produce and racing on successfully to run 2nd to Snakes and Ladders in the 1983 Christmas Gift. Jimmy Nail contested the Freo Cup in 2004, won the Parliamentarians Cup in 2003, 2nd to Get Serious in a Botra Cup and 2nd to Holm For Xmas in both the Mount Eden Sprint (in 1.55.1) and the Brennan Cup. Agnate was another fast class horse who qualified for the APC in 2002 and was 3rd to Gammalite in the Howard Porter Memorial. Beech won the Oaks in 1983 with Princess Leilane, the Golden Slipper in 1998 with Franco Parker and the 2003 Caduceus Club Classic in 1999 with Franco Look Alike and in 2003 with Latte. Luckon Lad won a Derby prelude in 2009 and raced in the Golden Nugget final and Birthday was a classy winner for him in 2008. A lot of ex NZ horses have dominated his small team over the years and other good winners include the brilliant Shirlz Sensation, a winner at his last 3 City starts going back to April 2014 but off the scene since then. Recently, Big River Hammer (2006) Cashmere Flyer (2008) and Zonya (2014) have kept the ball rolling. No big headlines, no outrageous claims, just a very steady flow of winners over a long period of time for M.N Beech.

Fish And Chips from memory was a handy mare for Beech in the 80's

JayJay · February 2015

Yes, VK, good call, I missed Fish And Chips but it was a distracting day.......hard to stay focussed in between reading the garbage being posted on the Willie Pike thread and fighting my way through the rehashed posts of Preux Chevalier which have been on here many times, though I never get tired watched his absolute demolition job in the Hunter Cup. I am sure there are othe Mike Beech horses I have missed but was battling the odds today. Might Give the Duffy's, Bill (and Laurel) and Ray a run next, followed by Graham Taylor and then Ken Cassellas but he will be a tricky one to track down and Linc has set a hard task. Trainer/driver records are reasonably accessible but owners are a different kettle of fish. Time Symbol, mentioned earlier, was very handy for Mike Reid, 2nd in 1991 Freo Cup to Imprimatur, 3rd to John Owen and Jack Morris in the 1992 Brennan Cup, won the 1992 Navy Cup and 3rd to Jack Morris in the 1992 Stratton Cup....a speedy customer but very headstrong and difficult as I recall.

Ridersonthestorm33 · February 2015

JJ I remember backing a horse called Lawndarme I think it was trained and driven by Fred Kersley don't think any great heights reached , remember the name. Just curious if you can look that up to see what years it raced. Fred loved taking Lawndarme and quite a few horses straight to the breeze. Also a horse called Hot As Hell for Tricky Trevor Warwick was their one night and it did power of work to win. I think it won a few when Warwick was in hot form himself .

JayJay · February 2015

Yes, I remember Lawndarme, a big strong old fella by Gendarme around mid to late 70's - had ability but recall it had a dodgy tendon or something and missed a lot of years before coming back late to win a few.Won the Great Southern Derby in 1973. Saw it win at Northam one night but as you say, never had huge success. I think they backed it one night and it breezed and won in town but very injury prone from memory. Hot As Hell was a pretty good type...2nd to Lumber Leon in the 1985 Slipper and raced on to 16 wins, 24 places (1.56.6) bred by Chris Hodgson I think and a half brother to Craig Murphy's good horse Hamadan. No major feature race wins.

Ridersonthestorm33 · February 2015

Fish And Chips was handy that's for sure. Very interesting about Lawndarme JJ he stayed in my mind for some reason. Remember it breezing too and being a strong fellow. A real old one here a horse that I loved putting $1 a place on...big money for a 10 year old especially back then... A horse called Bay Brigade. Any recollections there? I think he made it to open company and sometimes he would get the right run off the front and run into the money at a price. Have no idea of trainer/driver. Bay Brigade was one of my favourites but without doubt my very fave was Captain Forlese who you discussed before from the sparksy Treasure stable. Some of the memories of the horses that never made it anywhere near champion status are just as good. They helped to make the champions!

JayJay · February 2015

I knew Bay Brigade very well....R.L (Les) Williams of Northam....Les broke in a couple of babies for me when I was working in Northam and Bay Brigade was his star of the team at the time. He stablished the stables opposite the track at Northam which he later sold to Jesse Moore, just a 200m stroll to the track. Of course, Les was the father of current day successful trainer R.J.L (Ray) Williams and grandfather of Grant Williams. Les's father, Les Snr was a prolific trainer before him and had a string of butcher's shops. Les's brother Ray was the owner of El Caballo Blanco resort, the Spanish Dancing horses deal if you can remember. Bay Brigade reached fast class and went to Queensland and contested the Inters at Albion Park in 1972. Very handy old horse - I was probably in the same collect line as you as he often ran a ticky at huge odds. Les wasn't a fashionable city trainer but he won literally hundreds of races on the North Eastern non TAB circuit over many years, in fact he dominated. When one was good enough to bring to Perth, they often pulled off nice betting moves for a result. I mentioned Aeropolis earlier as the "free range" stable horse, Les was very laid back, nothing worried him. And he was a good driver as well. Won plenty of races with Miss Jenni Dee including a sires race at GP when the cash registers were ringing, then Jay Dee Two a prolific winner before sending him to Phil Coulson and he obviously improved and was a quality performer.. I also remember a horse called National Station and I think the current "Dee" horses, Navigator Dee, Jet Dee, Jimmy Dev, Dee Campese, Dee Eight Supercar etc all hark back to long time stable client and breeder Jim Devareux. Getting back to Bay Brigade, he ran 3rd to Dollars Double and Miss Dundee in the 1973 Fremantle Cup and 3rd to Regent Queen (K.Tyler) and Lucky Nick in a George Booth Memorial. The Williams family and the Doy's were very closely connected ...in fact I think Puffer's Mum was a Doy and Fred was her father.

youknowit · February 2015

JayJay. Mouse cassellas should be easy to find im sure he is still doing some work at the trots.

JayJay · February 2015

Oh Yes, Mouse easy to track down but the records of his winners will be the hard bit. I am 300km from GP these days and rarely get up to Perth. I only do th eresearch for something to do and help keep some of the history and memories of the old days alive as such. We should get him to do a book on his time with the Trots, it would be a great read.

JayJay · February 2015

Yes haha, it's covered in Baden Pratt's book on George....a broken ankle resulted from one failed attempt at Tatts Club one evening ....but they had plenty of laughs and plenty of "results" from Mouse's ability to run up a wall.

VillageKid · February 2015

Ken Casellas was also a bloody good footy statistician and may well have been one of the first of the type.

Firstly of course he was a very distinguished sports journalist on footy, cricket, trots, athletics etc

He has had a lot of success as an owner with Peter Anderson trained pacers the latest being the likes of Lisharry, Medley Moose, Mighty Flying Thomas, Bronze Seeker, Mexicano, Hawkeye Bromac, Rocky Marciano et al.

VillageKid · February 2015

JayJay said:
I knew Bay Brigade very well....R.L (Les) Williams of Northam....Les broke in a couple of babies for me when I was working in Northam and Bay Brigade was his star of the team at the time. He stablished the stables opposite the track at Northam which he later sold to Jesse Moore, just a 200m stroll to the track. Of course, Les was the father of current day successful trainer R.J.L (Ray) Williams and grandfather of Grant Williams. Les's father, Les Snr was a prolific trainer before him and had a string of butcher's shops. Les's brother Ray was the owner of El Caballo Blanco resort, the Spanish Dancing horses deal if you can remember. Bay Brigade reached fast class and went to Queensland and contested the Inters at Albion Park in 1972. Very handy old horse - I was probably in the same collect line as you as he often ran a ticky at huge odds. Les wasn't a fashionable city trainer but he won literally hundreds of races on the North Eastern non TAB circuit over many years, in fact he dominated. When one was good enough to bring to Perth, they often pulled off nice betting moves for a result. I mentioned Aeropolis earlier as the "free range" stable horse, Les was very laid back, nothing worried him. And he was a good driver as well. Won plenty of races with Miss Jenni Dee including a sires race at GP when the cash registers were ringing, then Jay Dee Two a prolific winner before sending him to Phil Coulson and he obviously improved and was a quality performer.. I also remember a horse called National Station and I think the current "Dee" horses, Navigator Dee, Jet Dee, Jimmy Dev, Dee Campese, Dee Eight Supercar etc all hark back to long time stable client and breeder Jim Devareux. Getting back to Bay Brigade, he ran 3rd to Dollars Double and Miss Dundee in the 1973 Fremantle Cup and 3rd to Regent Queen (K.Tyler) and Lucky Nick in a George Booth Memorial. The Williams family and the Doy's were very closely connected ...in fact I think Puffer's Mum was a Doy and Fred was her father.

Jay Dee Two was a very consistent pacer who was competitive around the fast class ranks for years.

JayJay · February 2015

Yes, Jay Dee Two went to fast class after Phil got him on the back of some nice betting moves as he moved through the classes. Stalled a little in open ranks but still ran 3rd to Sunshine Forever (John Graham) and Graymoore Dream (Graham Taylor in an August Cup, 2nd to Morgan James in a Memorial Day Stakes and 3rd to Vero Prince in a Tatts Cup. Big horse, needed time to balance up but could go with them.
Does anyone recall a horse called Parking? I think, only think, he may have been one of Pervans that won a good race when FRK had him but only working off memory here.

Ridersonthestorm33 · February 2015

If you said to me Parking all I could have answered with was Fred Kersley. Remember the name and it being associated with Kersley. If I recall he was pretty good. Have this feeling he might not have been a great beginner from the stand but it was a long time ago! It was a name that I liked as a kid for some reason a bit like Stichintime , Daintys Daughter, Miss Dundee , James Eden, Local Product etc etc these names were bigger to me than any sportsman or movie star.

Chariotsonfire · February 2015

Recall a funny story involving Len Pervan. An organised plunge was planned to back one of George's horses, Old Vic I think it was.

There were two lines of bookies at that stage and Len was assigned the back row, the only problem was he backed the wrong horse (Fiesta Brava - Greg Harper). So Old Vic was off the boards on the front row and similarly Fiesta Brava on the back row.

When it was pointed out to Len that he had backed the wrong horse he begged the bookies to cancel the bets. Only one bookie remained steadfast and would not cancel the bet.

The twist in the tail was that Fiesta Brava won, unwanted in the betting.

Len was like granite and if the shoe was on the other foot there would have been no way he would have allowed a punter to cancel the bets.

JayJay · February 2015

Yes, Riders, you've got him. Parking was hopeless away and a bit of a handful as I recall...a speedy little chestnut. Yep, I am the same...I used to go along in awe of the really good horses......there seemed by comparison to today, a lot more stars/household names and you got to know their idiosyncrasies and personality. The pattern of racing and the longevity of horses has all changed. There would be conga lines of rent a crowd protesters if someone started a 13 year old horse nowadays and to think Binshaw won his last race at 14 I think and Blue Pennant ran 3rd in an Interdominion in NZ at 13. The press coverage of the trots was wall to wall but as entertainment "options" (if you can call going to Packers Cesspit or gettiing your head bashed in at Northbridge options???) have grown, they don't even have a full time Trots journalist or photos of the feature race finish, or in my case down here, any results in the West other than 1,2 and 3 and tote divvies, no finishing order, no summary of who drove what. Yes, it's all on the net and so on, I know, but we were lucky to live in those times of multiple champs.

Ridersonthestorm33 · February 2015

Im sure in fact I'm positive that I was on Parking a few times when he galloped away. Learnt the hard way. That's what rang a bell with him - Kersley and galloping but was pretty smart on his night just the same. Add other great names Wee Cent , Bangalore, Bay Brigade, Shanagar, Roscott to the list as well. They all had an aura about them. Shanagar possibly came a little later ?

VillageKid · February 2015

JayJay said:
Yes, Riders, you've got him. Parking was hopeless away and a bit of a handful as I recall...a speedy little chestnut. Yep, I am the same...I used to go along in awe of the really good horses......there seemed by comparison to today, a lot more stars/household names and you got to know their idiosyncrasies and personality. The pattern of racing and the longevity of horses has all changed. There would be conga lines of rent a crowd protesters if someone started a 13 year old horse nowadays and to think Binshaw won his last race at 14 I think and Blue Pennant ran 3rd in an Interdominion in NZ at 13. The press coverage of the trots was wall to wall but as entertainment "options" (if you can call going to Packers Cesspit or gettiing your head bashed in at Northbridge options???) have grown, they don't even have a full time Trots journalist or photos of the feature race finish, or in my case down here, any results in the West other than 1,2 and 3 and tote divvies, no finishing order, no summary of who drove what. Yes, it's all on the net and so on, I know, but we were lucky to live in those times of multiple champs.

And Village Kid ran his fastest ever mile rate as a 13yo albeit in a time trial.

The coverage in TW & ST of pacing is almost non existent JJ apparently we here in WA are more interested in non descript NSW/Vic maiden race stories than our very own Pacing Group 1's according to both those 2 fish and chip wrappers!!!!!

:-O :O

G-Mac · February 2015

I was at a function one night where George G was the after dinner speaker. He told a story of calling a WAFL game at Bassendeen Oval and then rushing at full time to the WACA to call an Eagles game. He was stuck in traffic on Guildford Road and the pie he had for lunch wasn't sitting well. He tried to ease one out and ended up filling his pants. Or as he so eloquently put it "I tried to bowl a wrongun and it ended up bing a flipper". He drove the rest of the way with all the windows down.

G'day Punter!

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Top 50 Western Australian Pacers of All Time

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